Game apparatus.



N0. 7|2,025. Patented Uct. 28, |902.

' C. W. WAGNER.

` GAME APPARATUS.

(Applicatiqn filed June 23, 1902,)

(No Modell.)

' y v/0 Z0 /6 UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

CHARLES W. WAGNER, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

GAIVIEAPPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 712,025, dated October 28, 1902.

Application filed June 23, 1902. Serial No. 112,874. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. WAGNER, a citizen of the United-States, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gaine Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has relation to game apparatus adapted for the playing of various kinds of games, and particularly that class of games wherein a ball or marble is caused by gravity or momentum imparted thereto by a blow to roll overa surface provided with differently-numbered pockets or apertures into which the ball or marble is adapted to be received, a series of pins being arranged upon the said surface, so as to deflect the course of the rolling object-as, for instance, bagatelle, &c.

The object of my invention is to provide a game apparatus .of the character described wherein the ball or marble is caused to travel down a guideway arranged in a vertical or substantially vertical plane, whereby the said ball or marble will have such momentum imparted thereto as will cause it to travel over the face of the game-board and be received into the pockets or apertures therein.

A further object of the invention is to provide a game apparatus wherein the gameboard is removably seated in the main portion or body of the apparatus and adapted for ready removal therefrom whereby to enable different characters of game-boards to be used, my said apparatus also comprising a hinged top or cover which is provided with an inclined guideway, down which the ball or marble rolls before being received upon the face of the game-board.

A further object of the invention is to provide a game apparatus which is of extremely simple and inexpensive'construction and with the above objects in view.

The invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement, and combination of parts, as hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the drawings, and pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved game apparatus, the cover being in its raised position. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the parts as seen in Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken through the inclined guideway and the body of the device and game-board carried by the latter. Fig.

4 is a detail perspective View of the removupon which the game-board which is adapted to be used with my apparatus is adapted to removably seat.

6 indicates a hinged section or cover, which is hinged at 7 to the section 1 of the device, the said cover being adapted when the device is not in use to be folded down, so as to protect the game-board from dust, and when so folded down the device occupies but little Space, adapting it for ready shipment, if de- Sired. Y

The cover 6 is provided upon its under side with a suitable guid eway 9, which is preferably'inclined. This guideway is made sufficiently large to adapt the ball or marble used in playing the game to roll freely therethrough. The upper end of the guideway 9 communicates with the aperture l1, formed in the cover, and into which aperture the ball or marble is adapted to be placed by the person playing the game. To adapt the ball or marble when itreaches the lower end of the guideway to be guided onto the face of the game-board carried by the section 1, I employ a piece 10, made hollow and of a taperingshape, the larger end of which piece 10 is adapted to be inserted into the lower end of the guideway at l2, and when so inserted the opposite end of said piece l0 will lie in proximity to the upper face of the game-board. The piece 10 is removably held in position, so that it may be detached when it is desired to let the cover down upon the section l. Any suitable means may be used for holding the cover 6 in an angular position relatively to the body portion and preferably in a vertical or substantially vertical position, as seen--as, for instance, arms 13, pivoted at one end to the cover-and the opposite end of each arm being provided with a notch or IOO notches 14, adapted to engage with a pin 15, carried by each side 3 of the body 1 ot' the device. When it is desired to let the cover down, the arms 13 are raised to disengage the pins 15 from the notches.

Dilferent kinds of game-boards are adapted to be used interchangeably with my improved apparatus, and While I illustrate a bagatelleboard as being used it will be understood that any other game-board might be substituted therefor. The game-board 16 is rectangular in shape to correspond with the shape of the body 1 of the device and is adapted to be inserted in the body 1 between the sides thereof and to rest upon the cleats secured to the bottom 2, and when so placed in position the upper face of the game-board will be flush with the upper edges of the sides of the body 1. The bagatelle-board 16 is provided with the usual pockets 17, apertures 18, and pins 19 and is also provided with the raceway or channel 20, around which the ball or marble travels after it has descended the inclined guideway and emerged from the piece 10. When the game-board is inserted in position, a space is left between the bottom thereof and the bottom 2 of the section 1, so that the ball or marble dropping through the apertures in the game-board may roll toward the front of the device and be contained within the projecting portion 4: of the section 1, whereby said ball or marble may be abstracted for further play.

In bagatelle-boards as heretofore constructed the ball or marbleis given momentum by means of a cue or a spring-controlled plunger, the momentum given to the ball or marble depending entirely upon the force of the blow imparted by the said cue or plunger, and the latter is in turn governed by the will of the player. In my apparatus I dispense with means for imparting a blow to the ball or marble, and the momentum of the same is entirely beyond the control of the player after the said ball or marble is inserted within the aperture 11. Thus in my game apparatus the element of chance enters more largely than it does in bagatelle-boards of the usual construction.

The section 1 of my device is provided upon the under side, at the end adjacent to Where the cover is hinged thereto, with a cleat 21, whereby when the apparatus is placed upon a table or other apparatus it Will occupy a slightly-inclined position.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letf tels Patent, is-

1. A game apparatus comprising a main or body portion and a game-board carried thereby, of a section hinged to the body portion and adapted to occupy an angular position relatively to the body portion and provided with a diagonally-arranged guideway adapted to conduct a ball or marble onto the said game-board, the receiving end of the guideway being adjacent to the outer or free end of the hinged section and the discharge end body portion and a game-board removably carried by the said body portion, said gameboard having a raceway for a ball or marble, of a section hinged to said body portion and adapted to occupy an angular position relatively to the body portion and provided with a diagonally arranged guideway, a guidepiece detachably fitted at one end in the lower discharge end of the guideway, the opposite end of the guide-piece lying adjacent to the upper face of the game-board and adapted to conduct a ball or marble into the raceway of the game-board, the said hinged section being adapted to be folded down and rest upon the upper edges of the sides of the body portion and form a complete cover for the latter.

3. A game apparatus comprising a main or body portion, and a game-board carried thereby and provided with a raceway for a ball or marble, of a section hinged to the body portion and adapted to be folded down upon the latter and rest upon the upper edges of the sides of the body portion and form a complete cover for the latter, said hinged portion being provided with a diagonally-arranged guideway, the receiving end of which is at the outer or free end of the hinged section and the discharge end of which lies in such position as to conduct a ball or marble into the raceway of the game-board and means for supporting said hinged section in an angular position relatively to the body portion.

4. A game apparatus comprising a main or body portion and a game-board carried thereby and provided with a raceway for a ball or marble, of a section hinged to the body portion and provided with a diagonally-arranged guideway, the receiving end of which is adjacent to the outer or free end of the hinged section, and the discharge end being adjacent to the inner hinged end of the said section, a hollow piece or section detachably secured at one end in the lower discharge end of the gudeway so as to form a continuation of the latter and the other end of the detachable section being adapted to conduct a ball or marble passing therethrough into the raceway of the game-board and means for supporting the hinged section in an angular position relatively to the body portion.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

CHARLES W. WAGNER.

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